Martha Bloomquist

A special spirit left us the night of the Topeka Blizzard. Martha Ann Bloomquist (Marty) died of a failing heart on January 6, 2025.

Anyone who met her learned quickly she met the world through a unique lens, part fun, part deep insight, always original. It was one of her many special gifts. As a result, every one of her friends has Marty stories to tell.

Marty grew up in east Topeka on the family farm where her adventures focused on family, baseball, and opportunities for mischief at nearby Lake Shawnee. Upon graduation from Shawnee Heights high school she went to work full time with a goal of putting herself through college at Washburn University. She was the first member of her family to do so, and graduated in 1979.

After graduation, public service found her. In 1983-84 she spent a year as a Governor's Fellow under Governors John Carlin and Mike Hayden, learning about the personalities, levers, and budgeting of Kansas government. Then in 1987 she helped bring to life the newly created Kansas Development Finance Authority as one of two executives the other being its director Allen Bell. Its mission was to provide quasi-governmental financing for unusual Kansas private/public projects. During her five years there she helped engineer millions of dollars of affordable financing for projects to benefit Kansans. Such projects were as diverse as the beginning farmers' loan program and new academic buildings on the University of Kansas campus.

While still working, Marty sought a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Kansas. With the guidance of KU Professor Pete Rowland and a well-received thesis on the enforcement of pesticide restrictions she earned her masters in1987.

In 1994 her career veered to county government where she became Shawnee County's Chief Financial officer. In her four years there she helped the County Commission manage a 57 million dollar budget while hosting a life size standing cardboard cutout of John Wayne to welcome visitors to her office. Always the different lens.

It was about then she made a life changing turn ……… to follow the call of her heart. It was all about horses. The first one arrived in the mid nineties and soon more followed. The final number that has come and gone died with Marty, but there were plenty.

This new passion developed in two directions simultaneously. First, she found a world class mentor in Dean Smith of Council Grove (winner of the National Cutting Championship of the NCHA and winner of the National Reining Championship of the NHRA) and spent many long riding hours at his ranch with him, his family and fellow horse travelers learning and polishing her skills as a horsewoman. Simultaneously, Marty and her husband Joe drove all over Shawnee County until they found a perfect place to build a ranch. By 2003 there was a stable, an indoor arena, another barn, and finally even a house all under the name Dancing Star Ranch. It has been their home for twenty-two years. Her horses flourished, but the young people she attracted for lessons and barn work did even better. She built a community of the young and mentored them into county competitions and trail rides, especially Elizabeth (Kennedy) Hemberger and Misty (Weigel) Tidball. She also created summer camps and workshops for many of the same age and older. She was a doer.

Horses by nature are competitive animals; and as it turns out, so are many that ride them. Such was true of Marty. With the enabling of friends, such as Heidi, Matt, Tricia, and Mark from Council Grove and many others horse competitions and performances drove much of her future activity. County events, regional events, even national events drew her attendance. Almost exclusively western style riding, but through a wide variety of classes. Shelves full of ribbons, buckles and trophies bear tribute to the success of her trips. Among

those successes were the lead point getter in three categories in the American Buckskin Horse Association standings in 2017 and 2018, They were in Green Ranch Riding, Amateur Ranch Riding, and Open Ranch Riding. She called it her ‘trifecta’.

Covid put all of this on hold and then major health problems followed in 2021 that forced Marty out of her horse adventures and made her focus on taking care of herself instead. However, it didn't keep her from living her kind of engaged life which included among other things a trip to Illinois to see the 2024 total eclipse, catching the performances around Kansas of the likes of Richie Furay, Lewis Black, and Graham Nash.

Marty is survived by her husband Joe Scranton who was by her side for forty-six astounding years and her nephew Robert North (Emma) of Berea Kentucky, also her sister-in-law, Susan Dawson; brother-in-law Bill (Maryla) Scranton, and brother-in-law Peter (Marcie) Scranton, nieces Elizabeth (Laurent) Valosek, Julien (Andrew Datt) Scranton, and Caitlin Scranton. Tragically, Marty's father Robert, her mother Wilma, her sister Donna North, and her brother Don all died from health problems before their time and before her.

A memorial service is being planned for the spring, but a date has not been set. Donations are encouraged to one of Marty's favorite organizations, the Kansas Horse Council, at kansashorsecouncil.com or 785 776-0662. Further information can be found at the Brennan-Mathena Funeral Home website www.brennanmathenafh.com.